ABC News cameraman dies

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NEW YORK -- An ABC News cameraman was killed early Thursday in a car crash as he was traveling to cover the Omaha, Neb., mall shooting.

Ralph Binder, 58, was killed in the wreck on Interstate 80 near Grand Island, Neb.

ABC News soundman Dan Johnson, who was a passenger in the vehicle, received minor injuries and was treated and later released from a Nebraska hospital. ABC News said that their vehicle tried to get out of the way of a car that had lost control in front of them. Local reports said it was snowing in and around Grand Island early Thursday.

The two had left ABC News' Denver bureau on their way to the scene of Wednesday's mall shooting in Omaha, where nine shoppers were killed. Grand Island is about two hours west of Omaha; it's about six hours from Denver.

Binder began at ABC News in 1974 and worked for many years in the network's Washington bureau. He later moved to Denver, where he freelanced for the network. More recently, he was ABC News anchor Charles Gibson's cameraman when Gibson was in California covering the wildfires.

"He was a first-class cameraman but much more; he was a wonderful man," ABC News president David Westin said in an e-mail Thursday to network employees.

Binder was married to freelance ABC News producer Joy Binder. They had two sons, 12 and 9. Arrangements have not been announced.